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Sam Anning: Earthen
by Alberto Bazzurro
Una musica largamente composta, molto intenzionale, come amiamo dire in questi casi, forse qua e là persino troppo “abbottonata," nel senso di priva delle necessarie (o quanto meno opportune, auspicabili) aperture, improvvisative ma forse prima ancora emotive, e in ogni caso di sicuro valore e interesse, è quanto ci arriva da questo nuovo lavoro del contrabbassista australiano Sam Anning, già firmatario di una dozzina di album a suo nome. Vi aleggia un descrittivismo molto educato, levigato, senza ...
Continue ReadingAudrey Powne: From the Fire
by Scott Lichtman
The work of Australian-born singer, trumpeter, keyboardist and composer/lyricist Audrey Powne transcends traditional jazz styles. From the Fire (BBE Music, 2024) is a gem that melds jazz, new soul and soundtrack impressionism with penetrating lyrics to fashion a sonic journey. One first notices her impressive technique across instruments. Powne's trumpet playing swings freely. Drawing from horn masters, especially Roy Hargrove, Powne interjects a strong sense of the melodic and the blues into each improvisation, which gives them universal ...
Continue ReadingSam Anning: Earthen
by Jerome Wilson
Sam Anning spent three years as bassist for Archie Roach, an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter who championed the rights of that country's Aboriginal people. Roach passed away in 2022 and this album is Anning's tribute to him, a set of original works that carry forth the inner strength and understated force of Roach's music. Anning's compositions are unhurried and contemplative. They resemble classic ECM sounds but with a warmer, more intimate vibe. Throughout the album Andrea Keller's piano leads ...
Continue ReadingVanessa Perica: The Eye is the First Circle
by Angelo Leonardi
Il secondo album della compositrice e bandleader australiana Vanessa Perica, conferma le aspettative suscitate dall'impressionante debutto del 2020 Love Is a Temporary Madness che le ha portato numerosi riconoscimenti in patria e all'estero, con recensioni superlative della massime riviste specializzate. Entro le coordinate espressive del modern mainstream orchestrale, Vanessa mostra una scrittura avvincente, che alterna momenti ritmicamente trascinanti a sequenze d'ampio respiro, timbricamente ricercate. Entro smaglianti orchestrazioni ricche di trascinanti riff, lunghi pedali e scontri di sezioni, i ...
Continue ReadingJames Sherlock: The Verb Not The Noun
by Ian Patterson
James Sherlock's eighth album as leader sees the Melbourne-based guitarist return to the trio format for the first time since Domestic Arts (Jazzhead, 2010). Where that album was predominantly standards-weighted--a gorgeous version of The Strangler's “Golden Brown" apart--this one, Sherlock's first with bassist Sam Anning and drummer Danny Fischer, showcases his songwriting chops as much as his stellar guitar playing. All originals, the eight compositions encompass swing and blues alongside Sherlock's more contemporary frameworks. The results are uniformly satisfying.
Continue ReadingVanessa Perica Orchestra: The Eye is the First Circle
by Barry O'Sullivan
The music on The Eye is the First Circle is undeniably outstandingly composed and arranged by Vanessa Perica. Her second outing--following Love is A Temporary Madness (Self released, 2020)--with another supersonic ensemble, it was superbly recorded at the Sing Sing East Studios in Melbourne, showcasing numerous flawlessly performed solos by some of Australia's best improvising musicians. The bandleader, composer and arranger has created explosively expressionistic charts which would bring out the best in any orchestra. Perica utilises the chosen voices ...
Continue ReadingVanessa Perica Orchestra: The Eye is the First Circle
by Jack Bowers
In a review of Love Is a Temporary Madness, the debut recording by Australian composer/arranger Vanessa Perica, the observation was made that “Perica's impact in the realm of big-band jazz should be anything but temporary." Perica's second album, The Eye Is the First Circle, has added an exclamation point to that assertion. Again, each of the album's seven numbers was written and arranged by Perica. And again, she has shown that she deserves to be in the ...
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